Dear Brothers and Sisters, once again Holy Church
has placed before us a Gospel passage recounting the historical facts and then
two supporting readings that shape our understanding of that Gospel. I
ask you to imagine what it felt like on that first Easter morning. After
his death on the cross the followers of Jesus had been mourning his
death. Then Mary of Magdala went to the tomb early in the morning after
the Sabbath, but she found the stone which had blocked the entrance rolled away
and the tomb empty. She ran back to the Apostles. Simon Peter and
the disciple the Lord loved run in their turn to the tomb. They, too,
find the stone rolled away, the linen binding cloths on the ground, the cloth
that had been around the Lord’s head rolled up by itself in another
place. What does this empty tomb mean? Although Elijah and Enoch
had been taken up into heaven at the end of their earthly life no one, not even
Abraham or Moses, had risen from the dead and so the notion that the man who
had died and been pierced through on the cross might be risen to new life took
some understanding. We are very fortunate that we have the additional
text from the Acts of the Apostles to help us to understand the empty tomb for
by itself it would present us with an enigma, a profound puzzle – precisely the
same puzzle that it presented to Peter and John on that first Easter morning.

In the Acts of the Apostles we discover again and
again the affirmation in the Apostolic teaching that Jesus rose from the dead
on the third day after his crucifixion and that in the days that followed he
appeared to a number of witnesses. Our passage this morning comes from
the tenth chapter when Peter is preaching to Cornelius – and by that point we
have already heard in eight different passages precisely the same
message. For the followers of Christ the account of the empty tomb
denotes the beginning of new life – both for Christ and for them; for how could
anyone continue to live their old life once it is clear that there is a life
after death. This is precisely the point that Paul makes in his letter to
the Colossians that we heard just a few moments ago. Once we believe in
the resurrection of Jesus, once we have been baptised into his death and
resurrection, we are no longer bound into a way of life which is limited to
this world alone but rather we look beyond this life to the life which is to
come.

In the coming weeks we will hear a lot about the
experience of the early Church. We will learn about the transformation of
lives, many lives – and it is important for us to realise that this
transformation of lives has continued in the life of the Church and it
continues even today. This transformation of life is not primarily
something intellectual, not simply something we can read about and so come to
know and possess: it comes about by the entry of a person into the mystery of
Christ. Our entry into this mystery and the deepening of our
understanding of the demands of the mystery are brought about by the
development of a personal relationship with Christ which is mediated through
the prayerful reading of the Scriptures, especially the Gospel; and through
prayer, through the sacramental life of the Church, and, finally, through the
service of our fellow human beings. It is this deep personal relationship
with Christ which enables men and women, even today, to remain faithful to Him
even at the cost of their own lives.

It is not likely that those of us who live in
England will be called to be faithful to the shedding of our blood: it is far
more likely that we will face the challenge of remaining faithful in the face
of indifference which is, I suggest, more corrosive that the occasional public
criticism of the tenets of our faith or of individual failures among Christians
to live the Gospel they have professed. For this reason I suggest that on
this Easter morning we are being called to reflect on how we will live the
Gospel way of life in the year which lies ahead of us – when we leave this time
of blessed retreat and return to day-to-day life. This year we have the
great good fortune to have a clear message given to us by Pope Francis.
He has reminded us that our world stands very much in need of the experience of
God’s mercy and he has asked us first of all to expose ourselves to the healing
effects of that mercy and then to draw others into the experience of God’s
mercy.

How can you and I draw others into the mercy of
God? There is so much that each one of us could say, but I would like to
suggest that we should pray and put into effect the prayer of St Francis of
Assisi. Let me remind you: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where
there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is
doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so
much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to
be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning
that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
Amen.” Dear Brothers and Sisters, in the year that lies ahead let us take
the blessing of this Easter morning out into our world and let us try to make
the aspirations of St Francis a reality in our lives.